100 Things Christians Are Giving Up for Lent This Year

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Lent kicks off with Ash Wednesday on March 5, launching an important period in the Christian calendar — one that ends with Easter Sunday on April 20.

So, what are the most cited habits, behaviors and vices that believers will give up this holy season in an effort to focus their hearts and minds on Jesus?

While it’s impossible to know for certain each and every personal decision, the “2014 Twitter Lent Tracker” gives a lens into the top 100 most mentioned elements. And so far, 96,603 tweets have been analyzed during the week of March 2.

Image source: OpenBible.info

These social media messages are personal proclamations that reveal which behaviors believers plan to abandon during Lent.

While many of the most mentioned items are serious, some most certainly are not. For instance, consider that giving up Lent itself comes in as the 15th most cited element so far. But top five most prevalent appear more serious: chocolate, Twitter, school, alcohol and social networking.

Here’s a list of the top 15:

Image credit: OpenBible.info

The list of the most mentioned vices and habits Christian “Twitterers” gave up in 2013 was based on a total of 263,000 tweets. The most cited element last year was “being pope” (many quipped that Pope Benedict had given his position up for Lent).

Next came swearing, soda, social networking and alcohol.

After launching this year’s analysis, Stephen Smith of OpenBible.info, the website responsible for the Twitter Lent Tracker, noted that some of the new hot topics emerging during analysis of the first 5,000-Lent-related tweets were: “Netflix,” “Flappy Bird” and “Getting an Oscar.”

Clearly, peoples’ decisions are motivated, in part, by social changes and events that impact personal practice. With Netflix and Flappy Bird gaining prominence, it’s no surprise they made the initial list.

The Twitter tracker will be continually updated until March 7. You can see the 100 top most cited behaviors and habits here.